15-year-old Nanaimo singer who had viral Facebook video releases single

Coming on the heels of her first television performance, 15-year-old Nanaimo singer Lauren Spencer-Smith is releasing her first single.

The Grade 10 Dover Bay Secondary School student scored a viral hit in March when a video of her singing along to a Lady Gaga song garnered more than 19 million Facebook views, and a 2015 video of her performing onstage with Australian country singer Keith Urban at Cowichan Valley’s Sunfest Country Music Festival has racked up nearly three million views.

On May 6 Spencer-Smith sang for her widest audience when she appeared on American comedian Steve Harvey’s talk show, filmed in Los Angeles and broadcast on NBC. She said it was a “super cool” experience, and as someone who’s been singing for audiences for nearly half her life she said she was comfortable performing on-camera.

“It was super crazy and it was so incredible to go there. I’d never been to L.A. I always have wanted to go there and I didn’t realize how many people it actually took to put on a huge production like that,” she said. “There are so many different people behind the scenes doing so many different jobs you didn’t even know were a job.”

With her first taste of serious show business under her belt, Spencer-Smith is releasing her debut single on May 16. She chose to record a cover of Always Remember Us This Way, the viral Lady Gaga ballad that put her on millions of people’s radars.

“We just had so many people commenting, asking where they could find this song and people wanted it for their weddings and a few people would text me and tell me that they play it every single night … so we wanted to have a real recording of it so people would have it,” Spencer-Smith said.

As it was her first professional recording, Spencer-Smith wanted to get it done right.

“I sang it probably about 100 times and then finally the last one was the most perfect out of all of them and we were like, ‘This is the one,’” she said.

This summer Spencer-Smith will have another single coming out and she’s hoping to give some performances. She said she wants to pursue a career in country music and one day move to Nashville.

“I did have a huge debate with myself. I couldn’t really decide if I wanted to be pop or if I wanted to be country,” she said. “I definitely sing a lot of pop music and that’s what’s on my YouTube and Instagram, but what I listen to is country and ever since I’ve sang with Keith Urban I’ve been obsessed with country.”